The Bet
by TheLameDaydreamer
Summary: All's well for the start of summer for the Conan and the DC/MK crew, but a big-company client comes in asking about the disappearance of Pandora. Suddenly, a mysterious girl shows up out of nowhere with a forged letter the Mouri Detective Agency never wrote, and the Black Organization makes a move! Who is Mer and what are the stakes to the bet? R&R!
1. A Morning Gone Wrong

_Hi, everyone! This is my first story (rewritten) and I'm new here, so please give it a try~ Constructive criticism, reviews, comments, etc. really appreciated (:_

_Summary: All's well during the start of summer for the Conan and the DC/MK crew, but a client comes in asking about the disappearance of Pandora. Suddenly, a mysterious girl shows up out of nowhere with a forged letter the Mouri Detective Agency never wrote, and the Black Organization makes a move! Who is Mer and what are the stakes to the bet? What is going on, and how are all these separate mysteries related? (I'm really bad at short summaries, apologies)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own DC/MK, credits go to Gosho Aoyama_

_Update: I've rewritten the story a bit to make it better and such, so please bear with me! Happy Valentine's Day!_

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**Chapter 1: A Morning Gone Wrong (Conan/Shinichi-Focused POV)**

"My name is Okimura Danno and I work for Skyelight as the CEO's secretary. Pandora has gone missing." The client pushed a seemingly inconspicuous beige file forward, until one noticed the bulging at the edges with countless photos, documents, and newspaper articles. The three (four) detectives hunched over to see the file. Four, that is, if one counted Kogorou. _"But who would, if they knew?"_ Conan mused, his trademark sarcastically-intrigued expression making an appearance on his little face. _"But Pandora? Would that be a person, compute program, or item?"_

"Oh, I've heard of Skyelight! It's that up-and-coming international company originating from Japan, recently dominating the market for luxury goods. It beat out several others in the past few months, correct?" Hakuba asked, recalling his memory.

"Like I said earlier, Skyelight is going to release a new jewel and box set. The jewel is supposed to make its debut sometime next year, but…" the client started.

"Let me guess: the jewel's missin'?" Heiji guessed. Despite the fact that he and Hakuba almost _never _got along, Heiji couldn't resist a good mystery, and Conan could vouch for it.

"Yes. Sometime last night, we were supposed to store it in the twenty-second floor of the company's headquarters, but when we came back in the morning, the jewel was missing from its glass case! We called the metropolitan police for a secret investigation, but all they had the power to do was report the case, seal the area off, and take a few pictures of the scene. The jewel is worth billions of yen, and our company is going to experience a downfall if it doesn't show up by debut night! I understand that this is a very unprofessional way to put this, but you've got to help, please!" The client seemed practically desperate by the end.

Kogorou opened the file and laid out the pictures, each with different snapshots of the crime scene. Newspaper articles with headlines announcing the newest addition to the Skyelight jewel family with sneak preview pictures of what the gem looked like, and many documents in small print took care of the details-licenses, certificates, import/export receipts, shipment receipts, taxes, and a reports on details of the jewel.

"So the jewel was declared missing this morning?" Kogorou asked for confirmation, looking at a snapshot of the case.

"There ain't a sign of entry, a forced break-in in any of the photos!" Heiji speculated, holding up another photo to the light of the window behind them. Even though Hakuba gave an irked glance at Heiji's direction, the hot-blooded detective of the west hardly noticed. Before Hakuba had the chance to reach for a document, the breeze from the window blew, littering the floor with stray newspaper clippings and photos.

Conan bent over and picked up a photo of the jewel, along with a newspaper article. Either the article was recently released, or it was well-kept, because the clean-cut edges and crisp texture felt oddly satisfying in his childlike hands. "Skyelight Welcomes New Jewel Set to The Family", the headlines said in bold characters. Beside the article was a picture of a crystal box, delicately lined at the edges with silver. There was an intricate design for the keyhole, but the actual jewel and key were out of the picture. _"I bet that's all the press could manage to get for the new release," _Conan contemplated. On the actual photograph, the jewel was about the size of a fist, giving off a faint, but rich red glow. _"Lust red,"_ Conan identified the shade. His mind subconsciously reminded him of Ran, and her favorite color. Even though he would never admit it out loud, be it in Shinichi's form or as a child, but he kind of longed to show the photo to Ran, to show her how simple yet elegant the jewel was. Unfortunately, she was at karate practice yet again, preparing for championships coming up.

"Do you think it was stolen?" Conan asked out loud. He had a certain suspect in mind, one that loved riddles and always teased him by calling him _"Tantei-bozu"_.

"Little kids like you ought to keep away from adult business!" Kogorou scolded as usual whenever Conan would ask a question.

"The police didn't say anything about it being stolen, but I know my coworkers and I secretly think so. We have a list of rival companies and people in mind, but we're not sure who it would be." Danno replied.

"Because perhaps a certain thief under the moonlight would." All heads turned to Conan, the one who continued the statement he made earlier.

"KID is known to return the things he steals quite soon, right? Then there shouldn't be no problem!" Heiji said.

"KID's modus operandi* wouldn't be like this. He would always announce his heist with a note, and his heists would always take place under the full moon." Hakuba said in a retaliating tone of voice.

"Geez, didn't have to…" Heiji mumbled the rest, quite annoyed.

"Well, anything else you need to tell us about this case? Anything like a time limit, budget, or conditions?" Kogorou asked gruffly.

"Not quite. As long as you are able to find the jewel by the day before the summer solstice of next year, then the company will gladly pay you for your services. The higher-ups have requested to keep this case confidential. Look, I've got another meeting to attend in less than an hour, so I've got to run! I suppose I will give you a call again after the meeting to wrap up, but please take up the case and help our company!" Danno replied in a hurried tone as he started to pack his suitcase.

Three evenly timed knocks interrupted their moment. "Conan, would you go get the door please?" Kogorou asked this time, attempting to be nicer. Conan reached up his arm to open the door, surprised to see the person on the other side. A teenage girl about a year younger than himself in Shinichi form stood.

"H-hello," she stammered in Japanese. She had her all luggage and a slouchy backpack with her, and probably came directly from the airport. Headphones were peeking out of her pocket, and she was holding a letter. Conan spotted the very faint outline of a necklace or something of the sort under the loose tank top she was wearing with a tailored denim shirt. However, the way she appeared wasn't what caught Conan's eye, but her striking resemblance of his very own eyes. Unlike his blue ones though, hers were dark brown.

"Come in, onee-chan!" Conan greeted, leading the way for her into the room. She noticed the client still in discussion with Kogorou, and sat quietly on the couch to wait.

Kogorou started to put the papers and photos back into the folder to give back to him, but was stopped by the client. "That's okay, you can keep the folder. We've got an extra copy." The client left briskly out the door, and the girl stood up.

"I'm Alexis, and I believe you sent me a letter about a year ago about this?" she asked, placing the letter on the desk. Conan skipped over to see the letter. He had been wondering what it was about since he wasn't able to get a peek when he opened the door.

Kogorou scanned the paper, his eyes moving back and forth steadily. Instinctively, the three detectives leaned over Kogorou's shoulder to see the contents of the letter. Kogorou wore a puzzled expression on his face once he was done with the letter. "Those are my business letter formats, signature, and address, but I didn't write this letter."

Alexis was surprised. "Huh? I'm pretty sure you wrote this, because I accepted your offer to train for one year here, and you gave me a reply with the full address and details of when to come!"

Conan noticed the slightest twitch in her left hand. Her fingers were about to ball into a fist, but slowed down and returned normally.

"I never received any letter about you confirming your arrival here, nor have I ever sent you those, though!" Kogorou protested, clearly flustered.

Alexis' eyebrows furrowed from her frustration and impatience. It seemed like she had dealt with another '_surprise' _earlier today."You _are _Mouri Kogoro-san, correct? Are you _really _sure you didn't mail this to me? You even called my parents about this arrangement, because of connections on my father's side."

"Kogorou occhan, can I have a look at that letter?" Conan asked innocently. Kogorou grumbled and handed the letter to Conan.

_To Whom It May Concern (Residence of the Azumi Family Mansion)_

_First and foremost, congratulations on Alexis' recent success in solving multiple police cases! The news from Chicago has reached all the way to Tokyo, to my office. In several newspapers, Alexis was interviewed and asked to explain how she came to her conclusions and deductions, & her answers and observations had the potential to be simply brilliant! I truly believe she shows great promise in this field of work, and have proposed a plan: Alexis is invited to come abroad to Japan to study under me for one year, and get the chance to see and work with other great teenage detectives including the famous detective of the east, Kudo Shinichi! Everything will be arranged including lodging options, flight departure times, and meetings with fellow private investigators and the metropolitan police force. Please reply to this proposal by mail with the envelope included in this package with the return address written on it. If you accept, then in ten business days, you will receive another envelope with the flight booked along with contact information and an address._

_Sincerely,_

_Mouri Kogorou_

_P.I., Mouri Detective Agency_

Heiji bent down behind Conan. "Ku- I mean Conan, can I take a look at the letter?" he asked, laughing sheepishly for the mistake he almost made. Conan's sarcastically-intrigued face emerged again as he handed the letter to him.

Heiji ran his fingers over the signature. Heading over to the drawers of the desk, he opened them one by one in search of a magnifying glass. Finally, after the third try of the third drawer, he found it. "I can see how she was fooled by it. The signature ain't printed out; it's been written on with real ink." He announced after a careful minute. "Forged, and with careful precision."

A small _beep_ sound came out of Alexis' backpack. She took out a lightweight laptop-the best and the latest. A new email had shown up, and she had clicked on it. Hakuba appeared behind her. "Surprise, surprise." He started reading in English, with a slight British accent. "I'm surprised you actually fell for one of our tricks. Ever wonder where your parents were for the past few months? They were here with us, they're employers. That's right, they're weapon developers, and they are quite in debt at the moment. Your little maids and butlers know nothing of this, nor do your relatives, which is why we had to trick you to go to Tokyo, we're you'll be out of reach. Don't worry, they'll be fine as long as they follow the organization's orders, and you will be too if you don't return to the country. We'll be watching, and you _can bet on it_._ XX, Merlot_"

As usual, Conan appeared by crawling in between Alexis and her laptop. He zeroed in the sender's name-_"Unavailable, with a jumble of numbers and letters for their email address."_ He thought quietly to email itself was preceded by a series of codes and symbols he couldn't decipher. He scrolled down on the message, quickly translating the English to Japanese. Below the message was a picture of two people-a couple: unconscious, heads drooped forwards, tied up, and gagged. The background was that of a dark room, and he couldn't make out anything else except for the lab coats the two seemed to be wearing. Conan suddenly thought about _his_ parents. _"What if they knew I was still alive?" _

He didn't have time to ponder on that thought because suddenly, Conan grew alarmed as he ran to the window and scanned the area outside. "Conan, what are ya doin'?" Heiji cried, as if he had just seen Conan going insane.

"They might be watching us!" Conan exclaimed. "If we got the email just then, they must be somewhere, monitoring our reactions!" A shadow moved from the window building across from them. The outline of a figure was present, and then it appeared as if the figure turned and ran. _"Damn!" _he thought. _"At this rate, I won't be able to catch up to them, but they were watching us for sure!"_

"Are you alright?" Heiji asked, still slightly confused. Conan thought carefully about his next move.

"I'm fine now; I thought I just saw something." Conan replied, laughing nervously while scratching the back of his head oh-so-comically. "Eh heh heh heh!"

"Ok, then." Heiji replied after a pause. He didn't let go of it lightly, and gave Conan a look that practically said _"We'll talk about this." _

"Should I go get the police?" Kogorou asked.

"No, no, best not to get them involved right now!" Heiji quickly said. "It's fine now, and if you're going downstairs for coffee, would ya get one for me, too?"

Kogorou gave him a weird look before reluctantly heading downstairs. Heiji chuckled nervously in the same way as Conan before.

"Alcoholic codenames, and a mysterious organization, huh… You wouldn't happen to have any more messages like this, would you, nee-chan?" Conan asked.

"No, the two letters and the email are the only ones I have. So does this mean someone broke into this office, forged a letter, and used it as bait to get me here?" Alexis asked, keeping her poker face but Conan could see the worry hidden in her eyes.

"More or less." Heiji stepped in.

"_Way to go, Mr. Sympathy…"_ Conan thought sarcastically.

"Do you know any good places to stay here long term?" Alexis asked after a moment of consideration.

"Not really, the hotels are out of this area and more at the central core of the city, and the motels here are no good." Heiji replied. _"Speaking from personal experience?"_ Conan wondered, intrigued, and remembered how Heiji tried to come over to visit last time but they weren't in town. _"Although that was quite funny…"_

"I'm pretty sure the butlers and maids are tricked at home, and I can't return to Chicago, otherwise I'll be putting everyone around me in danger. I don't have a place to stay." She finally admitted.

"If you have nowhere else to stay, how about staying at my place, then?" Hakuba offered.

Conan noticed an annoyed Heiji make a small sound. _"_Tch"

"Really?" Alexis asked poker face back on, eyebrow raised.

"Really. I'll meet you here at 4pm to pick you up, I've got some errands to run and I've got to tell my baaya." Hakuba informed her before leaving.

"Wait, what's your name?"

"Hakuba. Saguru Hakuba." Hakuba replied with a charming smile.

"Thank you." At first she didn't seem convinced, but genuine gratitude started fill Alexis' voice as she closed her laptop. Hakuba left out the door.

"You ain't Japanese, are ya?" Hakuba questioned. "I noticed by the small mistakes in yer grammar. I believe we haven't formally introduced each other, but I'm Hattori Heiji. This is Ku- I mean, Conan. With this case an' all, why don't we go out for lunch? Seems like we have quite a lot to talk about."

**Black Org. POV**

Voices echoed from a distance in the otherwise pitch black hallway, save for the faint glow of a laptop screen. "She's not a big target anymore, Ano Kata_**_ said so. However, we're going to have to keep her parents here for a little while longer, they've still got debts to pay off. Even so, I suppose that's what happens when you try to buy your kid's way out of the organization. Don't forget: make sure you take care of the evidence and delete that email, Merlot. You can find the Organization's software for that in the storage room 2B. Come morning, the email won't exist." A raspy voice instructed in the darkness.

"Hmph, she's so _special_because her parents are _favorites_ of Ano Kata." A digitally distorted voice remarked. The two figures seemed to be having a video conference.

"Watch what you say, you've almost blown our cover by sending that overly-cocky email in the first place. There are a million other ways we could've threatened her to stay in Japan; she can't interfere with us in the States. Don't forget, there's a reason we made _you_steal the jewel. You don't look like a suspect in any way, _and_ your record is clean. Nobody knows anythingabout you, which is why you're one of our best when it comes to undercover work. You're a special case, Merlot. Don't forget that."

"Wait, but what are we going to do with her parents after they've paid the debt, Martini?"

The figure with the raspy voice grinned maliciously. "Keep them on a tight leash with surveillance. We can't do anything to harm them, and Ano Kata made it clear." His voice was betrayed by the slightest hint of disappointment. "Anyways, starting tomorrow, you know what to do."

"Yes I do."

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_Author's Notes: _

_*__Modus Operandi - Latin for "method of operation", used to show someone's habits or manners of work. Often shortened to M.O._

_**Ano Kata__="That person", the Boss of the Black Organization_

_Please read, review and look forward to the next (rewritten) chapter~_


	2. Raised Stakes

_Here's (rewritten) chapter 2! 'Italics are this are most likely the POV of the person's thoughts (i.e. Heiji for Scene 1).' I suppose main characters' POV's (i.e. Gosho Boys) will be written the most, and I might throw in a wild card every few chapters or so (requests open). Quite a few POV's this chapter, you've been warned._

_Disclaimer:__ As usual, I don't own DC/MK_

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**Chapter 2: Raised Stakes (Heiji's Point of View)**

The group made their way down to a café a few blocks away. Heiji found out about it from his last 'visit', except Kudo didn't mention that they would be out of town. He gritted his teeth slightly for the mistake he vowed to never make again. '_Heck, it was two days of me scramblin' around Tokyo tryin' to find 'em!'_

"By the way," Heiji began oh-so-innocently as they were walking along. "Care to elaborate what exactly you were doin' when ya ran towards the window and started screamin'?"

Conan's face darkened. "They were definitely watching our reactions. Who knows how long they've been, though?" He turned facing from one to another.

Heiji thought about the morning so far, trying to piece together things in his head. "How would ya know if it wasn't just your imagination?" He thought back to the occasional times Kudo would call him throughout the night, talking about his nightmares involving the Organization.

"The building across from ours has been completely cleared out-abandoned for the past three months. The past business there didn't go so well, so they were planning to put it for lease." Conan answered matter-of-factly.

"If they were watchin' us, wouldn't they have all their equipment, programs, and whatnot still there?" Heiji asked, wondering if they could catch this creep on time, if there really was one.

"The moment I looked out the window and shouted, they must've noticed. I saw a shadow move out." Conan replied. The café came into view.

"Ah-le-le? We've never been to this café before, Heiji!" Conan asked once they arrived at the entrance. '_He's probably tryin' to forget about a certain raven-clad organization this might be involved with.' _Playing along, Heiji looked at him expectantly, his eyes teasing.

"…onii-chan" Conan quickly added. Heiji smiled, obviously satisfied. '_Maybe it's not too bad, with Kudo shrinkin' an' all.' _Conan shot him a semi-irritated glance, thanks to Heiji's almost-constant teasing about it. The café was empty enough from the morning so the three found a seat in the back corner. "Now, let's get down ta business!"

"We'll start with the forged letter and the email, then if no one else is going to ask for somethin' different." Heiji said, interrupting the short silence from before. Alexis took out both the letter and her laptop from her backpack. '_Weird._ _Is she right-handed or left-handed?' _Heiji thought. Even though it was a minuscule trivial detail, he noticed how her dominant hand would switch from right or left, as if her hands were hard-wired to have a hard time choosing which hand was dominant. '_Is it out of habit?'_

The second thing Heiji saw through, despite her somewhat nonchalant facial expression, was her constant fidgeting once they sat down, especially with her feet and fingers-always tapping, always moving nimbly. He had thought about treating her (and maybe Kudo) to iced coffee earlier, but he vetoed that thought. '_Either she really is worried out of her pants, or her bloodstream is run on caffeine.'_

"Alexis onee-chan, do you mind if I open the email for you?" Conan asked, reaching for her laptop. She stopped fidgeting momentarily.

"No problem."

Heiji leaned over to watch Conan scrolling through the list of emails and selecting the one that mattered. They finally got a closer look at the message, especially with the code. "Maybe the letters and numbers aren't really random, there seems to be a pattern."

"A code, perhaps?" Conan elaborated, pointing at the screen. "See how there's an occurring pattern, and there are only occasional breaks between letters and numbers by keyboard symbols, almost as if to separate words!"

Alexis peered over. "In that case, it should be a location or something, right?" Heiji watched her as she pulled her facts together. "There are several numbers lined up together, in pairs of three's and fours. Unless of course, it's not a cipher and a code." She was beginning to relax by letting herself become distracted by the discussion.

"Ya mean like an address?" Heiji responded. He was getting excited. '_We might be gettin' a lead!'_

"Ah-le-le? See how the code is written like this?" Conan positioned the laptop screen to show the whole code sequence. The two others leaned over his shoulder.

***710%1200#VizQBi^QvBmzVIBqwvIT$IQZxWzb?JiOoIOm)KTIqU_BMZuqVIt-2 TIJMTTML-2B24287!***

"Since the letter 'E' is the most common letter in the English alphabet, see how the letter 'M' appears a lot?" Conan explained.

"Hey K-Conan, what about the letter 'I', though? Doesn't it appear as much, if it ain't more?" Heiji asked, seeing the logic behind his own reasoning as well.

"So there's a possibility that it could be a Caesar Cipher…" Alexis said. The look in her eyes switched from unsure to determined, the same expression Heiji would see in Shinichi's eyes when trying to figure the missing piece out of a puzzle. The resemblance was uncanny. '_Wait a minute…'_

"What's a Caesar Cipher again?" Heiji asked with an amusingly clueless face. The whole atmosphere snapped from its tension. Conan almost had to refrain himself from slapping his forehead with his hand, resulting in a 'facepalm'.

"It's a type of code where letters are displaced-for example, letter 'a' would become letter 'c', by moving two spaces or so apart." Alexis cleared up-no, it almost felt like it was recited from memory.

"Oh! _That_ type!" His eyes darted left and right from the screen. "Well, we know there are only twenty five possible combinations, but ain't nobody got time for that. It'd be best to split the possible letters up!"

A waitress came by, probably suspicious because the group had just plopped down on one of the tables and haven't ordered anything. "Is there anything you would like to order?"

"Neh, what do y'all want?" Heiji asked, still unsure about the coffee. He quickly flipped through the menu, but secretly not really caring about what he wanted to order for lunch. '_Come on, we were just gettin' started!'_

"I'll have an iced coffee~" Conan chirped. The waitress looked skeptically at Conan, almost as if she was thinking if children should even be allowed to order coffee. "Ah, can I borrow a pen as well, please?" Conan added. She pulled out an extra pen from her apron pocket and handed it to him.

"I'll have the Lunch Combo #3 and an iced coffee to go with it." Heiji ordered confidently, because of the familiarity from his last visit.

"The Lunch Combo #2 with water will be fine." Alexis ordered, not even looking up from the screen. The waitress left, glad the group had ordered something. '_Restaurant rules or somethin', probably.'_ Heiji thought.

"Let's start with 'I', then." Conan got to work, quickly pulling out a napkin from the dispenser and copying down the code from the screen. "Since we know that Caesar Ciphers are used for letter displacement, we can quickly figure out that it won't work by moving only two spaces."

'_Of course, it wouldn't make sense because it'd hafta be something readable, not just another set of jumblin' letters…"_ Heiji thought, pulling his cap forward. '_Then I'll go with Kudo's hunch today, the one with the 'M''s!'_

The three worked quietly for who knows how long, trying to decipher the codes from twenty five possible combinations. Heiji heard footsteps approaching. The waitress had arrived with their meals, after attending to the increasing flow of customers during the coming lunch hour.

Heiji started eating his meal (curry and rice, to which Conan looked enviously at), glad for the break. Conan sipped his ice coffee, looking down at the several napkins with different combinations out. All their work so far was sprawled all over the table, an array of codes and symbols. By the time Alexis' meal was arrived, she had a bit of a surprised look in her eyes. The look quickly disappeared and she played along with it.

"_She didn't even bother lookin' at the menu!"_ Heiji confirmed to himself. He couldn't believe it, though. She sounded so deliberate about what she wanted when she made her order; he could have been fooled if he wasn't watching her at the time. '_She might be a good actress, the type who can easily make up cover stories.'_

"Ya didn't look carefully at the menu?" Heiji asked teasingly, trying to get acquainted after the whole morning of seriousness.

Alexis slowly nodded, a half-sheepish, half-smile making its way to her face. "Want some, though?" She slid the big plate of club sandwiches with a side order of fries towards him.

Conan quickly nodded and said "Yes, Heiji does~" for him. Heiji shrugged and picked up a sandwich. Conan quickly slid the plate of curry from under his arms and started eating it. He smiled deviously.

"Why, you!" Heiji started comically. '_Ah, probably to get me back for calling teasing him.'_ The trio had put aside the topic of the code for now.

"By the way, who was that client before I came in? It looks like there's more than one case going on right now besides mine," Alexis asked cautiously.

Heiji and Conan took turns, relaying the whole story of the disappearing Pandora to her. With each and every phrase, it seemed less and less believable to Heiji. _'Even if the whole story is unbelievable, a case is still a case'_._  
_

"Since you asked us a question, why don't we ask _you_ one?" Conan asked.

"Feel free." Alexis replied lightly, her timing before answering spaced just right so she didn't sound like she was too eager or hesitating too much.

"What do your parents do? The email said that your parents were employed by them, but still captured by the same people. It doesn't add up, onee-chan." Conan asked, not even bothering to pretend to be clueless.

Alexis' left hand subconsciously moved to her neck, as if to touch something. Almost immediately, by reflex, she stopped herself. Heiji finally noticed a fine silver chain of a necklace hidden underneath her shirt. '_Probably a sensitive topic and she's tryin' to figure out how ta answer this question. Maybe she has trust issues? And what's with moving her hand up?'_ Heiji guessed in his head, trying his best to profile her character.

"To be honest," she slowly began. Heiji began to wonder if Conan asked the right question. '_After all, ya can't rely on the right kinds of answers, ya gotta know the right kinds of questions ta ask!' _He witnessed a surge of emotions rush past her dark eyes, as if she was formulating the 'right' kind of answer to the question. Maybe it was just in Heiji's imagination, but it looked like she gave up and finally decided to go with what she knew.

She sighed. "I'm not close with them, and whenever I've tried asking, they wouldn't give me a straight answer. I never see them around at home, anyways. I'm still trying to figure anything out."

'_Bingo. What she's sayin' right now has definitely got ta be the closest ta what she knows!'_

"So, you really did mean it when you said you had a lot to talk about, huh?" Conan asked Heiji, a mix of intrigued and amused. They had split the bill and started walking back to the agency.

Of course it was a lot to talk about, and after her answer, Heiji decided to switch the focus of the conversation back to that of the Pandora's. Kaito KID was expected to strike soon, even though no enigmatic notes had appeared at the police's doorstep. They spent a good half hour discussing about KID, his previous heists, predictions, and a good portion of it left Conan making an annoyed-bozu face.

"Since it looks like it's going to take longer than expected to finish these codes, do you want to meet up again tomorrow in Mouri-tantei's agency to show each other the ones we split up and finished?" Heiji suggested.

"Why not? I'll be here tomorrow by 9?" Alexis replied, her disposition more relaxed, evident from her considerable lack of fidgeting now. Suddenly, her eyes shot wide for a split second as if she had experienced a revelation or simply forgot her wallet. Heiji doubted it was the latter. In the next second, she had her normal expression back on. "By the way, what day is it today?" Alexis asked curiously.

"July ninth, I believe." Heiji responded. '_It's the jet lag, probably.' _Somehow, he didn't believe that thought. Something was lurking in the back of his mind, like the girl had just found out more than she had previously let on.

**Kogorou's POV**

The self-proclaimed great detective climbed up the stairs back to the office two steps at a time. '_The freaking line took me hours! Some idiot knocked into me and made me spill the coffee, so I had to wait around and order more! That Osakan brat better be grateful…' _He finally reached the door and opened it, hoping to make somewhat of a grand entrance. The silence from the absence of people greeted him. "Eh?"

He considered calling out for their names, but decided against it at the last second. '_Ah well, time to have a beer break.' _He thought as put the coffee aside and leaned back on his chair and listened to his favorite sound-the popping noise of a can being opened. '_Who needs coffee anyway?'_

**Black Org. POV**

Footsteps echoed the dark hallway as the figure made their way to storage room 2B. Inside was a large array of computer programs, all neatly filed away into little cabinets. The single beam of the flashlight illuminated the figure's field of vision as they walked over by the cabinets, in search for something. Their division superior had previously told them about their next mission. "_Not to mention the fact that I got reprimanded…"_ The figure thought, feeling an odd mix of resentful and cheeky. _"Speaking of which, I wasn't told where exactly the file was." _Taking out their phone, they dialled the only contact inside. After three rings, the other end answered. Turning on their voice distorter, the figure spoke first. "Martini, you forgot to tell me which cabinet the file is in!"

The other end sighed, obviously quite annoyed by the asker's impertinence. "In the cabinet at the far right corner, labelled 'AK24T', you'll open the top drawer and search through the files. Look for the one called 'SB287', it shouldn't be too big of a folder."

"Alright," the figure grumbled, trying to make their way through the dark and dusty storage room.

"The software takes quite a while to take effect for you to hack into her laptop, so if you're going to do it, you'd better start soon. A partner of mine just gave me a tip, the other program you used to disguise your IP address and account; it still has holes in it. The program only _converts_ your account information, not completely overriding everything into a mix of characters. That means it'll take whatever messages you have and convert it into _code_." The raspy voice relayed over the phone.

"Well, what about it?" The figure asked cautiously. "What kinds of codes do I have to look out for?"

The raspy voice on the other end became aware of the change of tone. "Any type it will choose. It's selected randomly when you download and start the program up."

"It won't matter _too_ much, will it? It's not like she's actually going to want to figure the code out," The figure asked, hoping for an answer that will provide them relief from the extra work.

"You'd better not underestimate her, Mer. The intel and records we still have from the database tells us otherwise." The raspy voice sounded ominous.

"Shit." The figure cursed and hung up, clearly ignoring their superior. Silently, they challenged who they were up against. _"So, we'll be polar opposites now, huh? The twin geniuses, each on a different side, standing on the same ground but looking out to a different world…"_

They closed their eyes and reflected on the past few hours since arrival. _"Ah, and I almost forgot to mention- that little kid with the glasses just might be someone else we're looking for."_

* * *

_Who wants to take a stab at the code? Please send me feedback so I can make the story even better, see you all next chapter. Shoutout to whitedoyle for the code idea! :D Few references from pop culture or whatnot today, see if you can point them out ;) You guys should tell me how long these chapters should be as well, so they're not too long or too short (because I might tend to ramble on). Should I put a small snippet of the Black Org's POV at the end of every chapter?_


	3. Encounter

_Rewritten chapter 3, R&R! Please tell me what you think, especially about Hakuba's narrative; it was a bit tricky trying to get into character. Enjoy!_

* * *

**Chapter 3: Encounter (Hakuba's POV)**

_July 10__th__, 7:58:02 AM_

Despite the soft glow of the morning sunlight pouring in, the residence had been unusually cold. Hakuba lolled around under his warm covers until he was aware of where he was, what was happening, and who he was. He reached for his beloved pocket watch, resting on his bedside table. _Perfect._ _Exactly 8:00:00_. He finally decided to pull himself up in a sitting position, and like clockwork, promptly made his way through the bedroom to reach his closet. While Hakuba searched for a sweater, he thought about the night before. _I almost didn't sleep, _he thought as he reached for a neatly folded sweater from the second drawer to the right.

He remembered stressing over the Skyelight case the night before, looking over them until 10:15:00 PM last night. Hakuba pulled the sweater over his inadequately clothed chest. The fact that he just couldn't fall asleep didn't help when he heard faint, but rapid clicking noises-most likely ones from a keyboard. Hakuba thought about the room adjacent to his own: Alex's guest room. _At least, _he noted, _that's what she wanted me to call her by._ In addition to the clicking that went on, he recalled hearing the sound of light footsteps, pacing back and forth around the room. There would be the sliding noise of the glass balcony door being unlatched and opened. Strangest of all, he thought he heard the soft sounds of a guitar being played. _Was it to the tune of "Seven Children"? _ He regretted dismissing those sounds as her nerves getting the best of her. Most of all, he regretted falling asleep to the odd lull of the music, only to discover something else in the morning.

"Baaya, have you seen Alex-san?" he called downstairs. It was _8:12:03 AM_, he noted, and he hadn't gotten ready for breakfast yet. Alex told him that she would need to meet up with Conan and _Heiji (that cocky little…)_ at 9:00:00 AM today at the agency again, and he'd offered (like a gentleman) to give her a ride there.

Baaya's voice echoed through the lobby. "Bocchama, I haven't seen her down here since I've woken up," she replied. The smell of breakfast wafted up the rather grand staircase.

Hakuba lightly knocked the door to the guest room, announcing that he was going to come in. An empty room greeted him. "Bloody…" he started to curse, trailing off under his breath. A folded white note fluttered down. _She definitely put it by the top door hinge-the note's been folded in this position for a long time, and judging by the stale ink, I'm going to guess more than six hours ago._ He reached down to pick it up.

"_In case you need me," _it read. The penmanship was messy-no, scribbled, as if the writer had to leave _in that instant._ Hakuba unfolded he note, and in it was what looked like a finished code:

***710%1200#NARITA^INTERNATIONAL$AIRPORT?BAGGAGE)CLAIM_TERMINAL-2 LABELLED-2T24287!***

It took him exactly five and a half minutes to decipher what the numbers might have meant. He remembered seeing the same code, except scrambled up the other day. _The symbols are just used to throw us off course, or both ways, also as some sort of 'spaces' between separate letters._ Hakuba analyzed the note thoroughly. _This is what they must have been working on in the café the other day,_ he confirmed, spotting a small heap of similar codes scattered around the floor by the guest bedside table. The room (save for a few missing things including her laptop and the backpack he saw yesterday) was strewn with her half-unpacked belongings. He found the source of the morning chill-her balcony window was left wide open.

_She must have left hastily, _Hakuba sighed. _Don't tell me this is what you're actually going to do, Alex…_

"Baaya, I'll be back later!" He shouted as he quickly changed into his regular clothes and bolted down the stairs to reach the door.

"Bocchama! Your breakfast!" Baaya called after him. Hakuba kept running, and sensed that Baaya knew that he was still in earshot. Deciding that it was an emergency though, he (even though he didn't mean to) ignored her. "Bocchama!" Baaya called once again. Her tone of voice gave it away-she knew that Hakuba wasn't coming back for breakfast.

**Conan/Shinichi's POV**

_(July 10__th__) _

The last thing Conan remembered last night was the receipt. Ran had come home from practice at around five last night, and Heiji was staying at the Haido Hotel as he was planning on taking the train back to Osaka today. _"Yo Kudo, I'll be back next week."_ He'd informed Conan. However, that wasn't the part that bugged him yesterday to cause him to stay up late.

Ran bought groceries on her way home, and since she didn't regularly check the receipts, Conan decided to do it for her out of (severe) boredom. Alexis' code was already finished, anyway. _The answer was simple,_ he thought triumphantly. _Although there was just one thing I didn't get-the numbers. The symbols were simply used to separate words, but the numerology most likely stands for time. 1200 implies either midnight, but if viewed in a military way, it could also mean noon. 710 could signify July 10__th__, exactly one day after Alexis' appearance. _July 10th… Conan remembered about Alexis' questionable reaction when Heiji had informed her of the date. He wasn't directly looking at her, but out of the corner of his eye, he swore he saw her freeze for a split second. What was the exact expression? _Was it panicked, as if she was pressed for time?_

Even so, Alexis' code was finished to some degree. He tucked the code away in his shirt pocket to present to the other two later, as promised. As his eyes were glazing over the receipt, he flipped to the back. It was a peculiar message in typewriter font.

**"1:2**

**Be careful, Silver Bullet."**

_Silver Bullet?_ He thought. At the back of his mind, he vaguely remembered a case last Halloween involving a horror film cruise ship, an invitation to Shinichi Kudo, and _that woman. __Could it be her…?_

Other questions raced through his mind. _1:2... _The first thing that came off the top of his head was its use in mathematics. _1:2 could imply fractions, ratios, or something. Perhaps one half?_ Other possibilities came up. _What about time? It could a way to symbolize time, or mean a half-time signature in music._

His thoughts were interrupted by the ringing noise of the agency's phone. It wasn't even quarter past 8 AM yet. _Oi, oi, oi,_ he thought as he answered for (the still hung over and sleeping) Kogorou.

"Moshi-moshi? Mouri Detective Agency." Conan answered.

"Conan-kun, is Heiji there with you, by any chance?" There was a distinct British accent the speaker's voice-Hakuba. He sounded oddly rushed.

"No, Heiji nii-san's not coming here until 9." Conan answered. _What's going on?_

"I think I may have figured out the code." Conan heard subdued, steady breathing. Hakuba must have run earlier.

"Huh?"

"My apologies, there's no time to explain. I'm right outside."

Conan heard the soft hum of a car pull up to his block. Was this an emergency? Even though he had barely worked alongside Hakuba, he seemed like the type of person who usually wouldn't be irrational. _Better tell Ran… _he thought.

He ran into the kitchen, and saw Ran opening the refrigerator to start cooking breakfast. Before Conan could even finish his sentence, Ran interrupted him. "I'm coming with you."

"What about Kogorou-occhan?" Conan asked her as they put on their shoes and quickly descended down the stairs.

"Otou-san will still be hung over; we should be fine by the time we get back."

For some reason, she seemed to be more protective of Conan this morning. _Did she have nightmares again?_ Unfortunately, it wasn't unusual. Some nights, Ran would be loud enough to hear through the thin walls of the building. _"Shinichi, where are you going? Don't, it's dangerous!"_

The two approached Hakuba's car. "Since when did you drive, Hakuba onii-san?" The car sped down the road.

"I borrowed this from Baaya today." Hakuba replied, keeping his eyes on the road. Conan peered outside. The scenery gradually changed from Beika to the Greater Tokyo area.

"Are we going to the airport?" He asked innocently.

"I suppose you figured out the code for yourself as well?" Hakuba responded as he nodded respectfully to Ran in the rear-view mirror.

"What's happening?" Ran asked aloud, curious to know. She looked at Conan, but he shrugged, looking in Hakuba's direction.

"To make a rather long story short, there was a company client coming in to ask about a missing jewel called Pandora at 10:13:23 AM yesterday morning. Just as he was leaving at 10:49:25 AM, a –what should I call it- an exchange detective came in from Chicago by the name of Alexis. She had apparently received an official letter from your father's agency, inviting her to stay in Japan for a year to train as a detective. Later on, she received an email from a blocked address, and it was revealed that her parents' employers (whoever they were), had detained them for reasons yet to be known. During the ride to my house from 4:15:32 to 4:35:48, we had conversed, especially about a code the three of them had noticed at the beginning of her email." Hakuba made a swift right turn. Conan could tell that he wasn't quite used to driving himself, but was slowly remembering, most likely from observing his Baaya. "We arrived at my house, had dinner, and got acquainted. Last night, however, I was hardly able to fall asleep. I believe I heard the clicking sounds of a keyboard from her laptop, footsteps pacing back and forth, the balcony window sliding open," Hakuba abruptly stopped his sentence. Conan noticed a glint of worry in his eyes.

"Was there anything else you heard, onii-chan?" Conan pressed on.

"Maybe I'm just going crazy from sleep deprivation these days, but I think the last thing I heard was _Seven Children_ being played from a guitar." Hakuba admitted, sighing.

_Why Seven Children, of all songs?_ Conan made connections, trying to fit the pieces together to make a logical picture. Was it possible that she could be connected to the Organization? Conan thought about her habits, even the ones done subconsciously. Her constant movement, her hands: nimble, but precise and steady; always in coordination. He thought about the different types of people who would have such similar traits, hand-wise. Conan started listing off possibilities in his head: ambidextrous (for sure, he had seen her frequently switch from one dominant hand to the other when holding a cup or something as barely noticeable as flipping through pages), good aim, deft, very skilled with hands. _No,_ he stopped himself. _Think._ He couldn't be too sure; he'd have to watch this Alexis persona more closely. _I have to observe, not see,_ he quoted after Holmes.

"When I checked up on her this morning, she was gone from her room, with the balcony door opened. I'm quite sure I saw a guitar somewhere near the corner of the room, but I didn't have time to check. Most importantly, I found a note with a finished code inside, and that's the reason we're out here, heading for Terminal 2." He continued.

Ran looked on with concern, even though she had never met Alexis in person. _What is she thinking about?_ Conan wondered.

"Have you figured out what 2T24287 could hint at?" Conan questioned. It sounded like a way of organizing something, and if he was right, the Black Organization were always up to something.

"No, but we'll find out soon enough," Hakuba replied as he slowed the car down, Terminal 2 coming into view.

"What does Alexis-san look like?" Ran asked once they were inside the terminal, bustling with people arriving and departing.

"About the same height and lean build as you. She has straight, long black hair with side bangs. Dark brown eyes, furrowed brows half the time, as if she's thinking hard. Fair skin; she looks like she may be of mainly Japanese descent, although I can't be a hundred percent sure." Hakuba registered off the top of his head.

"Her Japanese is accented funny," Conan chimed in childishly. _That, of course, and her almost-undetectable bad grammar. _

"American accent." Hakuba verified. "Shall we split up, and meet back here within fifteen minutes if we don't find her yet?"

"Alright," Conan agreed.

"Wait, I'm coming with you so you don't get lost, alright Conan-kun?" Ran held his hand.

The bustling shifted to and consolidated near the baggage claim area. People gathered around, and the mumbling was notably louder. "Quick, someone call the police!" A voice shouted.

Conan and Ran made their way through the crowd to get a look at what was happening. _Could it be another murder?_ Conan thought. This kind of situation was getting repetitive, especially since the day he had first transformed into Conan Edogawa.

A girl in an oversized black hoodie lay unconscious on the floor, clutching a black briefcase. Her hood was way up, covering her eyes, but Conan immediately recognized the bottom half of her face, except for the fact that her lips, usually rosy, had started to turn pale.

"She's been stabbed!" Another voice yelled, alarmed.

Conan rushed up to the girl, instructing Ran to call an ambulance. The briefcase she was holding tightly had a little white label around the handle: T24287.

**Black Org. POV**

The only source of light in the otherwise dark room was from a giant projector screen. The figure meticulously clicked through the various names and faces of young people. Assigned codenames were listed up on top, with designated divisions in smaller print. There was an astounding display of information on these people.

_"The next generation of all of us, huh..." _the figure mused as they continued to click through. They took another puff of their cigarette. One particular name popped up.

**SHERRY- STATUS: ESCAPED**

**Internal Division, Drug Development**

**Specialty in BIOCHEMISTRY, MEDICINE**

Hatred burned through the figure's eyes. The glow from the computer and projector screen revealed their eye color. It was a striking blue-gray: Vermouth. In spite of her memories, she clicked on to the next profile.

**MERLOT- STATUS: IN TRAINING**

**To be placed in ****External Division, Operations**

Beneath the headers listed information such as relations, current projects, completed missions, and even things as trivial as strengths and weaknesses. _"So that's the prodigy trainee they were talking about," _Vermouth reflected upon.

She selected the next profile, and then faltered.

**AMARETTO-STATUS: IN TRAINING, **

**To be placed in External Division, Operations**

A flash of recognition crossed her face. _"Cool Guy..."_

* * *

_Does anyone know which case Conan was referencing to? :D_

_-What do you think was in the briefcase? What happened to the girl? :o_

_-Why is Ran so protective of Conan today?_

_-What is Vermouth doing?_

_I'm most likely going to rephrase this chapter later on or whatnot, it doesn't sound as good to me right now. Feel free to give feedback by leaving behind a review! I'd like to know things such as what you liked, what you didn't, what (or who) you'd like to see more of, and what I could do to make the overall writing better! See you next chapter!_

_And yes, Hakuba's monologue was partly used to explain to Ran what they were up to and a quick recap of the previous chapters, you caught me (=3=). _


	4. In Cold Blood (Part I)

_Rewritten chapter 4_

* * *

Prologue:

"_Most of us enjoy daring, but only a few are truly dealt the wild cards." _

**Chapter 4: In Cold Blood (Part I, Conan/Shinichi's POV)**

Police cars and an ambulance were starting to be heard in the distance. A comment from someone in the crowd had caught him off. _The problem is,_ he pondered. _Which one of them was it?_ "Ran nee-chan, could you make sure nobody suspicious comes into the area?"

Ran nodded cautiously, then went on with the procedure as if she was used to it. Conan examined Alexis closely; the signs of blood loss were more evident now. Before he could even start analyzing the facts, he heard a small moan escape from the girl's lips. _Is she still alive? _Conan carefully checked her pulse, praying that he wouldn't accidentally alter evidence, if there was any.

_Thump. Thump-thump. Thump._ It was irregular, and getting weaker.

A pool of crimson spilled from her side, so he lifted the wrecked black fabric away from her body. _A stab wound, deep enough to have torn her skin. Judging by the rate she's bleeding, the perpetrator must have used a lot of force. They also must have had enough time to get the knife in, and way past the tip at that. Did she have time to react? _The area around her wound appeared jagged. _A serrated blade?_ Conan took a second look at the label on the case, and tried to carefully pry them from her fingers. She refused to loosen her grip from the briefcase. _  
_

_Come on,_ he thought. _You have to fight it, against all odds._ At this point, he wasn't quite sure who he was trying to get this message to, the girl or himself. Once again, he thought of the specific group of people who had caused him such distress over the last, say, 22 or so seasons. _What are they up to this time around?_

Medics rushed into the scene, with the police not far behind. Kogorou, miraculously, was not part of it this time. _Right,_ Conan remembered. _He's still probably hung over._ Hakuba suddenly emerged, breaking out from the ever thickening crowd of onlookers. He wiped a small sweat from his brow. "Hakuba onii-san, Alexis onee-chan might be still alive!" Conan said, rushing to get the words out. If she was alive, it would be all the better. He'd have a lot of questions to ask, starting with the _Seven Children._ Did she have a connection with these people?

Hakuba understood and nodded, signalling for the stretcher to come in. He gave the keys to his car to Conan, although Conan doubted those keys were really his. _I bet it's his Baaya's._ "I'll most likely be in the ambulance, so I doubt I'll need these. I suppose I can trust you with this, Conan-kun? I'll send you a message later telling you what you need to do." Two medics wheeled her off into the ambulance outside, and he followed suit.

_Now,_ Conan thought._ For the strange comment. _The stab wound he had observed earlier was still quite fresh. Out of the entire passerby, how could they have known? There only two shouts he heard: both in consecutive order. _"Quick, someone call the police!" _and _"She's been stabbed!"_ If she was stabbed, she would have dropped. There would hardly be a clamor, and even if it were a gun equipped with a silencer, it would have already been detected within the premises. _Except,_ Conan added, gritting his teeth, _the weapon is nowhere to be found._ Out of elimination, there would only be the remaining statement: the only one truth. There was the one thing Conan did differently (out of habit) than what the fishy comment had earlier instructed.

That was definitely it. _"Quick, someone call the police!" _had been the suspicious comment. After all, it would be a near-impossible chance for someone to determine that she was _dead._ _Usually, if you see an injured person on the verge of dying, it's in nature to call the ambulance. Not the police. _Conan recalled from his actions. _Since she doesn't appear to be stabbed too long ago, the culprit still might be here! _Conan looked at the location of the wound. _I wonder if she saw it coming or if she was caught off guard…_

Unfortunately, the crowd was starting to disperse as quickly as it was formed. "Oi!" Conan said aloud, annoyed. He took off, running to the officers. "Takagi-keiji, can you round these people back up for me? I might be able to find someone I was looking for!"

"There are so many of them leaving and only a few of us came out for duty here; it's going to be hard at this point! Is there someone in particular you're looking for, Conan?" Takagi replied, scratching his head sheepishly.

"Eto…" Conan elaborated. _What kind of voice was it?"_ He smiled brightly. "An uncle of mine with a raspy voice and a strange accent!"

"We'll see what we can do, Conan" Takagi answered. "No promises, though." More and more people were starting to disband.

"No promises!" Conan echoed, still smiling. "Ah, can you do me a favor?" He handed Takagi the keys. "Hakuba onii-san left these keys with me to meet him at the hospital, could you drive us there later? Ahahahaha…"

Takagi gave him a strange look. _A fitting response for a strange request,_ Conan thought. _As expected, anyways._ "Alright…"

Conan watched as Takagi walked off to Megure with his notebook and the keys in hand. Something caught the corner of his eye-a familiar white label lying on the ground. Conan carefully picked it up and looked at the front side: T24287. _Wasn't this already attached to the other briefcase…? _He flipped to the other side. _This can't be-_

Conan took out his cell phone, and scrolled through the contact list. The phone didn't bother to take the time for a full ring before the other line picked up. "Kudo, ya better have a good reason ta be callin' in this late! Yeah, I may be leavin' later today for Osaka, but that doesn't mean we weren't supposed ta meet up at 9 here, and when I come in, all I see is a passed out Kogorou in the other room and no sign of any of you! How do ya expect-" The Osakan was most definitely annoyed.

"No time, Heiji. Meet me in the Beika Hospital as soon as you can. I've got a feeling these two cases might be connected." Conan eyed Alexis' leftover belongings nearby. It wasn't much, really, just her backpack with her laptop almost falling out of it.

"Ya, Kud-" Heiji didn't get a chance to finish his sentence before Conan snapped his phone shut. Ran was standing behind him.

"Conan, we have to talk."

**Hakuba's POV**

_8:59:23 AM_

The ambulance sped to Beika General Hospital. Hakuba decided that it was getting awfully hot in the back of the ambulance, given the fact that he, the stretcher, and two other medics took up most of the room in the rather small space supplied this time. _I should have taken the car myself, instead of passing the keys over to Conan before I got on this…_ he instantly regretted. _What was I thinking? _It was quite ironic, really. The morning started off rather cold, but then the crowds, weather, and tension heated everything up. An oxygen mask was attached to Alex's face, and the medics were working on bandaging her side to temporarily apply pressure to the bleeding.

_Why were you so reckless, Alex?_ As much as he didn't want to, that thought kept popping up for the duration of the ride. By now, he had deduced most of the situation. _First, the sounds at night_. The tapping was definitely from her keyboard, so she must have been trying to research something or brainstorm. Or get in touch with someone, who knows. Her footsteps paced back and forth around the room from her nerves, and the song must have been something subconscious to calm herself down. Hakuba still couldn't stop thinking about the song. _What symbolic significance was it to her? _He didn't recall hearing anything else but that song before he fell asleep. _And why did Conan react that way when I told him in the car?_ He had spotted Conan through his rear-view mirror during the ride to the airport. The little boy who just seemed to know more than he let on had put on an eerily familiar expression of thought he had seen on Alexis. How would he describe it? _Quizzical?_ No, that wasn't it.

_Moving on, given the fact that the threat was quite serious, she wouldn't reply to those emails…would she?_ Hakuba listed possibilities, trying to get an idea of the girl he supposed he ultimately didn't know much about. _But who would know, after all…_ He kept in mind that her guitar was left in the corner of her room. There was also a rather tall tree right outside of their rooms, so it wouldn't have been too much of surprise if she were able to escape out the balcony. _But that tree isn't particularly easy to climb for the average person, and on top of that with her jet lag…_

_And finally, her ultimate objective: what was she back at the airport for?_ He wished that he could have taken the time to collect her belongings, or at least take a look at them. Hakuba looked down at Alex, still holding on to the briefcase. The muscles in her hands looked tense. _Did she have to fight for that?_ He observed, piecing things together. In fact, there was a difference between the actual briefcase and the code: T24287 and 2T24287 respectively. Hakuba recited the code in his mind: ***710%1200#NARITA^INTERNATIONAL$AIRPORT?BAGGAGE)CLAIM_TERMINAL-2 LABELLED-2T24287!* **

The code made much more sense now. 710 would equal July 10th, and 1200 was the time on a 24-hour clock, popularly referred to as military time. NARITA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT BAGGAGE CLAIM TERMINAL 2 was obviously the place, and the label would be 2T24287. Two things still didn't make sense: if it was 1200, wouldn't that have mean noon, and not midnight? Why T24287?

Hakuba checked the little white label, a sharp contrast against the dark briefcase. It still read T24287, as much as he partly wished that it was a mistake and he hadn't seen that it was partially obscured. _Could the 2 mean half…?_ He had recognized an identical black briefcase being held by someone somewhere in the crowd he was making his way through. Could someone already have the other half? "Bloody…" he muttered under his breath again, the second time this morning.

"Speaking of the circumstances, this girl must have had a lot of stamina," a voice interrupted Hakuba's thoughts in the otherwise silent space. The first medic was finished bandaging her side up, cleaning his tools. They were approaching the hospital.

"Pardon?" Hakuba asked, not quite understanding.

"Well, judging by the circumstances we were told, she came in yesterday by a flight from the States, right? That jet lag would have already taken up much of her energy, and yet a security guard at the airport had told us that he had seen her for several hours in there."

_Several hours? _Hakuba noted, continuing to listen. The ambulance was starting to slow down as the hospital came into view.

"See how she's still quite tense despite the fatigue?" The second medic said, pointing to her limbs. "She was probably showing signs of struggle."

_Struggle?_ Was his theory about the two cases correct? Hakuba closed his eyes momentarily and thought back to the crowd, trying to recall as much as he could. _There was hand holding on to the briefcase, they seemed to have a bloody tight grip…_ Perhaps that was the reason why he noticed it in the first place.

The back doors of the ambulance opened, welcoming a sought-after breeze. "The bandages will hold for now, until she gets admitted into the Emergency Department." The first medic informed Hakuba, pulling off his gloves. The stretcher was wheeled off.

"You should be allowed to visit her, but she is most likely suffering from severe levels fatigue. I wouldn't recommend expecting her to return to consciousness too soon." The second medic filled in concisely. The medic reached for a clipboard, reading out the name. "She should be going to a… Dr. Araide. Huh, must be his shift today in the ER." Hakuba nodded, thanking them, and then followed the stretcher to the hospital.

He flipped open his cell phone, sending Conan a text letting him know it was alright to let Ran-or whoever he trusted from the police force to drive them to meet him at Beika Hospital. _At least I gave Conan the car keys,_ he thought. He thought about it, and then rewrote the whole message so it wouldn't sound like it was a burden. Honestly, he hated troubling people.

When did he get so careless this morning? It had only barely reached noon. _Speaking of noon, if that was the supposed time to collect the briefcase, why would she go during midnight?_

Hakuba thought for a good portion of his time before he decided he needed to go to the restroom. What he saw inside as he opened the door almost made up for the fact about how the morning started out. What-no, who he caught in the middle of something was close to precisely the reason why he came back to Japan.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Hakuba gave a haughty smirk as he beheld the sight in front of him.

**Ran's POV**

"Conan, we have to talk."

Although she hated doing it, there wasn't too much of a choice. Conan's little face, a striking resemblance to a childhood Shinichi's, froze up. _It was just like last time._ After all, even though it had already been more than once that she doubted Conan's identity, she hated seeing him try to lie his way out. _Why, Shinichi?_

The visions from last night still burned a clear image in her mind. Ran wondered if Tou-san or even Conan could've heard her sleep-talking. _No, snap out of it. It's not that serious!_ She reminded herself. _It just can't be._

"Did you-" she started asking.

Just then, as if by lucky coincidence, Conan's cell phone beeped with a new message. Conan looked at the receiver, and feigned his ever-famous innocent face, chuckling nervously. "Look, Ran nee-chan! I got a text from Hakuba onii-san!"

Ran stared straight at him, not impressed. For a good measure, she asked Conan if he could let her borrow his cell phone to see if Hakuba checked in about his car keys.

Once the phone was out of his hands, she asked him the question again. Ran could see the look in Conan's eyes, like a deer caught in headlights. _This is what I have to do,_ she reminded herself. _No more avoiding questions, or at least, too many._

"Do you believe in fortunes?" She had changed her mind from her original plan, asking Conan about Shinichi. Such a simple (even if it was odd) question, yes, but a whole day's worth of memories played at the back of her mind from it. _Especially_, she closed her eyes momentarily. _The things I saw._

It all started after karate practice yesterday. She had stopped by the store to pick up some groceries, and walked past an old fortune teller on the route home. _"Would you like a fortune, Angel-san?" _The little old woman's voice sounded so desolate and sad. Ran couldn't see why not at the time. That strange feeling kept bugging her the entire way home, as her ominous voice repeated over and over again, like a broken tape player. _"The one you care about, he may want you to stay behind, but watch over him." _

"I think we each have a say in our own fates. Why, Ran nee-chan?" Conan asked.

It was probably all a dream, along with the flashback from that last night with Shinichi at Tropical Land. Maybe it was just all in her head. At least, she desperately hoped. "Never mind, Conan-kun, it's nothing!" _Of course, why would she doubt his safety? Nothing bad was going to happen again, right?_

"Ah, it's not much then! I just met an old lady who asked me about fortune-telling. I think she mistook me as someone else since she called me Angel-san." Ran replied. _Angel, what a foreign name._ She handed the phone back to Conan.

**Conan/Shinichi's POV**

Conan sat in the backseat of Hakuba's (Baaya's) car, looking at the back of the copy of the white label he found on the floor earlier. Alexis' leftover belongings took up the room next to his seat.

"**2:2**

**The countdown begins with the first two as the clock ticks backwards**

**And Panya's two youngest children**

**Wait with silver locks"**

_2:2…_ He analyzed the label. _Was I right, about this being the second half?_ Conan took out his phone to copy the riddle into a text message draft. His thoughts passed through his brain a mile a minute. The culprit who stabbed her, unfortunately, got away from the scene before the police could round everyone up, making their efforts futile.

Afterwards, Takagi agreed to drive them to the hospital, and Ran sat shotgun. There was some light conversation in the car, although Conan honestly wasn't paying much attention.

At least now Ran seemed more relaxed, after giving Conan an unexpected hug when she handed him the phone back. He started calling Heiji to check if he was at the meeting point yet. The car passed through a tunnel, and a faint static interrupted Conan's call to Heiji, even if he hadn't picked up yet. _Weird…_

Once the light almost blinded (well, okay, maybe he was exaggerating) Conan when they left the tunnel, he noticed something small attached to the inside of the car door. _A… transmitter?_ He cautiously picked it off. _Who put this there?_

**Black Org. POV**

A black Porsche 356A was parked at the side of a bridge. The driver was taking a smoke break, and his partner tapped on the keyboard of the laptop in front of him, furiously finding information. Web pages popped up, but they were all essentially about the same thing-a lust-red gem that had gone missing. "Aniki, this was the project Ano Kata told us about, right?"

A phone call interrupted what the other man was going to say. He took a long drag from his cigarette before answering his phone.

"We have good news and bad news." The voice on the other end said.

* * *

_Notes:_

_Next chapter wraps up whatever was left over from both July 9__th__ and 10__th__ in the story (yes, phew, finally)! Poor Hakuba, sorry I made you forget your car ^^" Who do you think he saw in the restroom? ;D How can I improve Ran's (future) POV's? I felt like I kind of messed this one a bit :P Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter! I don't know if you guys like the idea of prologues before the chapter, but personally I found it interesting so I gave it a try. They'll most likely just be a collection of little quotes, or sayings I've come up with that fit the theme of the story. As always, let me know what you think! _


	5. In Cold Blood (Part II)

_Rewritten chapter 5_

* * *

Prologue:

"_In a dark time, the eye begins to see." –Theodore Roethke_

**Chapter 5: In Cold Blood (Part II, Kaito's POV)**

The teenager, although somewhat of an enigma, had learned many things growing up. Especially one simple family rule: Don't Get Caught. Kaito stood in front of the sink, checking the reflection of his disguise. He was, after all, in the middle of Stage Two of his master plan: Stakeout. The heist, like he had given his next riddle to Suzuki Jirokichi, was in four days. _But oh, methinks how slow This old moon waxes!_ Kaito thought as he quickly changed from his (female, he might add) nurse uniform to that of an old janitor. In just the past two days, he had gained background information on every employee at Beika General Hospital. _Not bad, not bad at all…_ Everything else was packed neatly in his bag, and he was about to replace the nurse mask with a well-made, identical latex copy of the janitor's face.

The restroom door suddenly opened, making a harsh squeaking sound. Unfortunately, he was untimely interrupted by a rather timely person. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" The _stupid_ brown-blond detective interrupted what he was in the middle of, giving the thief a smug little smirk, obviously pleased with himself.

_Kuso! _Actually, he wasn't quite who he would've preferred seeing at the moment: Tantei-kun or Hakuba no Yarou. Kaito knew, at least, that neither of them would possibly be incompetent like the Nakamori-keibu in regards to efforts to apprehend him. _What is he doing here, anyway? _Fortunately enough, Kaito had always planned things carefully, and well, if there wasn't a third option, there was always room to make one. Ditto for options four, five, six, seven, etc.

The gears in his mind started turning. _Three seconds_, he thought to himself. _That's all I need. _Option two could work. As an artist (and a good one at that, if he may say so himself), the key to tricking people was perception, the true heart of a con.

_Three._ "Try to contain your enthusiasm, but you're not catching me today, Detective." Kaito said, keeping his perfect posture and cool demeanor. A slow, easy smile crept up on his half-removed nurse disguise. Hakuba's eyes, remained trained on him, like a hawk. The ability to adapt was a thief's greatest skill, and Kaito could spot cracks in Hakuba's defenses.

_Two._ In a smooth and effortless motion, he clapped twice, all the while utilising a special skill-the sleight of hand.

_One._ Showtime.

**Hakuba's POV**

_Paired with sleeping gas, _he later found,_ two hundred white doves could be quite lethal._ When Hakuba came to, he pushed himself off in sitting position on the restroom floor. A white note lay resting on the floor in front of him, as if it had (unlike the surprise attack) delicately fluttered down shortly after he was knocked out. Hakuba reached for it. _"Nice try, Detective"_ Hakuba read. He almost couldn't believe it, finding it absolutely ridiculous: the thief had the audacity (and time, apparently) to draw a heart after the word 'Detective'. _"She lingers my desires, like to a stepdame or a dowager Long withering out a young man's revenue."_ Hakuba lightly ran his finger over Kid's signature insignia- redrawn by hand, to no surprise. He caught a scent, and sniffed the note. It was the light aroma of wild pansies. _What is that scent for?_

He reached for his pocket watch. _Strange. _He reckoned that with sleeping gas, it should have taken him a longer amount of time to recover from. _There's less than a five-minute time gap._

_What trick did he use?_ Hakuba could almost imagine the arrogant thief walking away smirking, thinking to himself that he wasn't even a little bit the wiser. _Wait._ Hakuba stopped his train of thought._ Walking._

The odds were even, given on exactly how much time Kid had taken to escape. He scanned the room. _One exit. _Hakuba walked towards the exit. The old doorknob was cold to the touch, and wasn't well-oiled. _Neglected. Doorknobs of this nature tend to get adapted to the turning motions, reducing the noise when used recently. _He peered outside. As he had predicted, there were no feathers outside. _Did Kid and his doves seriously…?_

Hakuba turned around and looked above him to get another view of inside the restroom. _Two ventilation shafts. Congruent. _One question remained: Could he still be in the building?

**Conan/Shinichi's POV**

_Meanwhile…_

Conan waited outside the emergency room with Ran, while Takagi took care of some paperwork business at the front desk before heading back to police headquarters. Ultimately, he decided not to tell Ran or Takagi about the transmitter just yet. He figured it may be still intact and kept it wrapped around a handkerchief in his pocket. Tissues would have worked too, but given the fact that he didn't know who it belonged too, it was better to play it safe and keep it under thicker wraps. _Hah, _a thought crossed his mind as his sarcastically intrigued face made its appearance again. _I just made a pun, both figuratively and literally._ He bet Agasa-hakase would be proud.

He heard footsteps pounding towards him from behind, and saw Heiji running up to them. "Oi, K-Conan! Whad'ya mean by the cases bein' connected an' all?" It was expected, though. Conan _was _being a little too vague to the fellow detective during their last phone conversation.

Heiji slowed down as soon as he spotted Conan looking towards the direction of the emergency room darkly. "Ne, did somethin' happen?" His eyes widened. "Don't tell me…!"

Dr. Araide strolled out of the double doors of the emergency room. He was holding a clipboard, his trademark kind disposition present. He looked around the lobby before finally spotting them. _Wait, isn't Araide supposed to be…? _Conan thought. Ran approached him first. "Araide-sensei, is Alexis-san alright?"

He glanced down at his clipboard, flipping through two pages before stopping at what appeared to be Alexis' report. He shook his head slightly. "Azumi-san has shown signs of minor inflammation from her right side wound, paired with considerable blood loss and fatigue. She's now receiving a Blood Type A transfusion before we can move her into a room." He flipped to the next page. "Ah, speaking of a room, we don't expect the patient to gain consciousness too soon. Her levels of fatigue are substantial."

Conan felt the transmitter and label in his pocket. "Ah, was there also a black briefcase she was holding on to?"

Dr. Araide looked at them, confusion hidden in his eyes. "Yes, and it was actually quite difficult to pry the case off. It's now on the table beside her in the emergency room." He hesitated before continuing to speak. "I hate to ask too many questions, but does it belong to anyone in particular?"

Conan had anticipated this question to come sooner or later. "Eheheheheh, it belongs to Kogorou-occhan! We were at the airport to pick up an important package from a client overseas!" He improvised.

"How many days is she expected to recover in?" Heiji asked, starting to get a sense of what was unfolding in front of him.

Dr. Araide looked down at his clipboard. "She should be conscious in about a day or two, and her wound should be closed up in about three days after that. Azumi-san should be discharged around that time."

"By the way sensei, what are you doing here?" Ran asked curiously. "If I remember correctly, I don't believe you work here." _Exactly, _Conan contemplated. _Not since the incident with Vermouth… So what is his business here?_

"They needed extra doctors today to cover, there seems to be a flood of patients coming in recently." Dr. Araide explained. "That being said, th-"

"Araide! There are two more patients who've just come in. We need your help!" A fellow doctor called from the doorway of the emergency room.

"Well, duty calls! I'll be sure to have a nurse let you know when Azumi-san is going to be moved to a room. You should receive the briefcase then as well, if you wish to pass it on to Kogorou-san." Dr. Araide informed them, rushing back into the emergency department.

"Critical care, emergency medicine, even private practice doctors like Araide in the ER, huh…" Conan turned around to the sound of the voice. It was Heiji. "Wonder what's goin' on, and with the steady rate of patients flowin' in here. So, would'ya tell me what happened now?"

Conan relayed the whole story to him, leaving out the transmitter and label until Ran was out of vicinity. By that time, she had decided to go looking for Hakuba to return his keys. He hadn't arrived to meet them in a while, and she was starting to wonder about his whereabouts.

"So, the real story?" Heiji asked, cocking his eyebrow. The background drone of the news caught Conan's attention. The announcer was talking about the situation at the airport about a stabbing.

"Incidentally," the tinny voice from the television continued. "We've just received reports of food poisoning cases from several restaurants in Haido. The screen switched from the announcer's desk to live footage of the outsides of several restaurants and food joints. Civilians were crowding in front of ambulances, holding onto their stomachs and displaying signs of nausea. _Oi, oi, oi_. Conan thought. _So that's what's causing the rush of patients…_

He took his eyes off the screen and faced Heiji again. Conan took out the two clues out of his pocket-the transmitter and the riddle. "I found this on the floor after the crowd dispersed, and this-" Conan unfolded the handkerchief. "Is the transmitter I found on the inside of the door in the backseat area. Supposedly the label on Alexis-san's briefcase is still intact, and this-" Conan revealed one last item. "Is what I kept from yesterday." It was the receipt he had found in Ran's groceries.

Heiji inspected the two messages carefully. "Does 1:2 and 2:2 symbolize somethin' along the lines of first-half and second-half?"

"Presumably. Also, this transmitter…" Conan gingerly handled it. "May still be intact, although I don't know who put it in Hakuba-san's car."

A nurse came outside, wheeling Alexis out of the emergency department. "If you would be so kind to follow me," she said. Alexis appeared to have received her blood transfusion, and was breathing steadily now. The nurse handed the suitcase to Heiji. They took the service elevator, while the nurse continued speaking. "Azumi-san will be assigned to Room 302 for the time being! You don't have to worry though, we'll take care of her at the hospital so we can make sure she recovers as soon as possible!" The nurse had a cheery disposition. Conan made sure to send texts to both Ran and Hakuba, remembering to include the room number. While he was looking down, he noticed something peculiar-the nurse was wearing athletic sneakers that seemed rather… well… masculine.

"Ah-le-le? Onee-san, your shoes!" Conan pointed down, to the direction of her footwear.

"Huh, are these kinds'a shoes popular or somethin' now?" Heiji wondered, his hand reaching for his chin.

The nurse gushed and pinched Conan's cheeks, much to his displeasure. "What a clever little tantei you are~!" She giggled. Conan swore he saw a flash of something familiar flash through the nurse's eyes, but it was gone before he could make sure. The nurse recollected herself. "I borrowed these from my boyfriend, you know," she winked. "All my other pairs were washed yesterday, so they needed time to dry off." He caught a faint whiff of her perfume-floral.

Once the two of them were alone inside Alexis' room, they stood in front of her briefcase. It was shut tight, a complicated lock requiring a combination. "Do ya think maybe...?" Heiji glanced back and forth between the lock and the riddle. Conan nodded. "It's likely."

Heiji read the first line of the label out loud. "The countdown begins with the first two as the clock ticks backwards."

"The countdown usually starts from '10', correct? If it begins with the first two, then it should be the digits '10, 9'." Conan said.

"An' if it were tickin' backwards, that ought'ta mean that it's in reverse! My guess is '2, 1', or somethin' along those lines." He read the next line while Conan took out his little notebook and wrote down the code. "The second line is 'And Panya's two youngest children'."

Conan hesitated. _Panya?_ That was the word that had caught him the first time he saw it. _Panya means bakery, or-_

"Baker. The best connection with those numbers has to be '21' again, the last two digits of Holmes's address." Conan said. _Who had sent this briefcase? _

"As in '221 Baker Street', right? The last line is 'Wait with silver locks'. In Japanese, silver would translate to 'Gin', or it could mean 47, the atomic number, or…" Heiji went on, listing all the things that would be connected to the last line.

Three knocks resonated at the door. Conan went up to open it. The guest was carrying a bouquet of flowers-chestnut and orange lily.

"I got your message, Conan-kun." Hakuba walked in, setting the flowers down. "Incidentally, I saw Kid in the restroom, but he managed to get away." He handed Conan Kid's note. Hakuba looked just about as tired as everyone else. Conan wasn't sure what the source of his stress was: the two cases from when he visited yesterday, his relation to Alexis as her (temporary) guardian (or so it seems), or the fact that he failed to catch the ever-elusive Phantom Thief 1412. _Maybe all?_ Conan concluded.

"What're the flowers for?" Heiji asked suspiciously.

"A receptionist came up to me and gave them to me while I was returning to the lobby. They said that the delivery man had given them to the wrong place to drop off for a patient. The flowers are apparently from someone by the name of-" Hakuba flipped the label over. "Meruro."

"No, the problem is what the flowers symbolize. Chestnut is 'Do me justice' while orange lily is 'revenge'!" Heiji exclaimed, waving his arms around.

Hakuba raised an eyebrow. "And how would you know?"

"Kazuha." Heiji sighed. With that single word, Conan understood almost everything. _No wonder,_ he thought.

Knocking was heard again and Heiji went to open the door this time. He let Ran in. She was holding her phone up. "I got your message, Conan-kun! Is Alexis-san alright?"

She then proceeded to hand the car keys back to Hakuba. "Thank you!"

The room was filled with the light discussion Ran was leading as Conan and Heiji tried to crack open the briefcase. Both of them explained what happened, in regards to the cryptic message left behind on the second label. _21-21-47_, Conan repeated the numbers as he turned the lock with his nimble, childlike fingers. The lock refused to budge. "Ne, Heiji onii-chan, the code doesn't work." He called out loud while trying to figure out an alternative. _Maybe it's the first one we have to fix? _Conan took out his notebook again. _The countdown begins with the first two as the clock ticks backwards. The original countdown is '10-9', so if it's reversed, it would be…_ A flash of realization crossed him. '_1-2'! _Heiji watched as Conan reset the lock to put in the second combination.

"By the way, I met a Dr. Meruro earlier on this floor when I came into the room." Ran recalled.

"Oh?" Hakuba looked up, feigning innocence.

"Yeah, he was really nice! Although…" Ran was deep in thought. "His actions seemed suspicious. Since there's a big flood of patients coming in today, shouldn't he be helping out in the emergency room? I saw him wandering around this floor from door to door, as if looking for something or someone. As I came in, I think he took the elevator down to the main floor again."

"Speakin' of strange people, earlier K-Conan and I saw a nurse who enjoyed wears her boyfriend's shoes. I get it with all the couple shirts and borrowin' clothes and all that, but shoes?" Heiji chimed in.

"A nurse, you say?" Hakuba replied. He stopped, and then his eyes widened. "Hey, you can't mean-"

"Got it!" Conan exclaimed triumphantly. The briefcase was opened, revealing a pile of numerous pictures and documents of Pandora-not unlike the ones he had seen the day before. Some of the newspaper clippings and articles were the exact same. Hakuba picked up a photo and examined it meticulously.

"Seems like someone snuck in." He deducted. Heiji looked Hakuba's shoulder. _For once, these two aren't arguing_, Conan thought. _What a surprise._ Hakuba traced along the uneven edges of the photograph. "See this? It's most likely a photograph of a photograph."

Conan heard Hakuba mutter "And they did a sloppy job," _Perfectionist, huh?_ He made his signature 'Hey, hey, hey' face. _Though it's not unlikely after all, considering his personality._

Heiji caught on. "Ah, and the reflective glare found in the photo's photo, right?" He pointed at the photograph, revealing a slight, milky reflection that didn't seem to change.

"Precisely." Hakuba walked over back to the briefcase, taking a look at the label while holding the other one Conan previously found. "And these two, they could mean two halves of something as well. Two halves of a riddle," he held up the receipt and the label. "And two halves of a package," he glanced over at the briefcase.

"Like a double meaning?" Ran asked curiously.

"Yes. Which makes sense as well, because as I was making my way through the crowd earlier, I think I saw someone holding onto a black briefcase. They had a tight grip." Hakuba finished.

Heiji rummaged through the suitcase until he hit something hard. "What the-"

Conan ran over to get a view of what he saw. "A disassembled sniper rifle, looks like a model M40A3." _How could this manage to get past airport security?_

He looked over at Alexis. _The transmitter, the 1:2 and 2:2 messages, the flowers, the briefcase, Seven Children, Pandora, and you… what could all this mean?_

**Black Org. POV**

_Before..._

The earpiece crackled. "Remember, this is your first test. Supervisors will be evaluating on how well you do."

"Understood." The figure was serious, unlike their usual cheeky personality from before. Their mission: track down a missing organization trainee and retrieve the briefcase. They looked at their calloused hands. _I shouldn't have held to that other case so tightly; nobody would've noticed me anyways._ A girl emerged from the corner of the hallway. Their eyes zeroed in on her, and they recognized her face immediately. _She's related to a certain detective we're also after…_ They stood in front of the hospital floor map, as if they were a doctor looking for their way to a patient's room.

"Ah, could you please show me how to read this map? It's a bit confusing." The girl asked.

"Sure! Here, you just…" The figure directed her, showing the girl how to read the map as if they knew it inside-out. _Which they did._ "How else may I help you?"

"Ah, I'm just looking for friend's hospital room. I heard they got moved here," the girl replied. "Thank you very much for your help, though! Are you a doctor here?" she asked, looking at the figure's disguise-a white doctor's uniform.

"Meruro. Dr. Meruro. I'm new here." The figure replied, smiling kindly.

* * *

_Author's Notes:_

_Two references to list: A certain famous playwright (which I'll elaborate on next chapter) and Kaito's Rules to Life. Otherwise, for the surprise appearance of Kid, tell me how I did for his narrative! Any thoughts on his next (*ahem*) scheme? Please let me know about your thoughts on the story so far with your speculations, and if there are any errors/plot holes/things I need to fix! See you next chapter!_


	6. Blue Moon

_Here it is, the long-awaited Chapter 6! (Apologies for making you all wait so much =_=")_

* * *

Prologue:

"_Swift as a shadow, short as any dream; Brief as the lightning in the collied night." –A Midsummer's Night Dream, William Shakespeare_

**Chapter 6: Blue Moon (Conan/Shinichi's POV)**

"Damn that KID!" Inspector Nakamori shouted, clearly agitated. "Whatever I do, I never seem to be able to catch him! BUT THIS TIME, I SUCCEED AND APPREHEND THAT NO-GOOD THIEF " Conan stood in the corner by the window and watched as he became a flurry of action. "I want a hundred officers guarding both the entrance and exits of the tower, five guards each in every room, and you!" The inspector pointed at an unsuspecting officer. The officer jumped in surprise. "Get the whole place surrounded with security cameras and traps! This time, we'll restore our pride as the police force!" Officers and guards scurried around to their designated areas, and the sound of multiple helicopters were heard. Conan suspected they either belonged to the police, the news channels, or the Suzuki Corporation's. Outside the tower, an unbelievably huge crowd of thousands gathered outside, consisting of KID fans, onlookers, and news staff. Even the riot squad was called on to keep to crowd under control, using their shields to hold off as many people as they could. The crowd was buzzing in anticipation, and multiple bits of their excitement could be heard from all directions.

"Did you hear? This might be the heist of the _summer!_"

"I skipped work early to see this!"

"KID is too cool!"

"Kaito KID announced that he would be taking the Suzuki Corporation's newest addition to their jewel collection, the _Sapphire Night!_"

"Yeah! And he said that he would take it tonight on the 21st floor, where it's rumoured to be held!"

"Take me too, KID! 3"

Conan turned away from the window, thinking way back to Day One. He closed his eyes and pinched the skin on the bridge of his nose near his forehead. The past three-four days in between had been a blur. _Now, I've just got to piece the facts together. _Everything else faded to black in his mind as he zeroed in on the list of things that had caught his attention. _Day One,_ he focused on. There had been Alexis's initial reaction to finding out that Kogorou didn't write the letter. _What was it? Why was she awfully quick to react? _The signature had been forged as well, which appeared to be done by hand with careful precision. Conan thought about it-he didn't recognize a time when Kogorou revealed his signature to the general public such as the news; it was always just to the few fans who had practically begged for an autograph. How did the letter-forger get a hold if it? _What was their objective? _

Second was that email. _What an unusual way for Them to contact._ No matter how he looked at it, it didn't seem to match with the usual method They used to contact targets. _And what was with the code? _Alexis had a tight grip on the briefcase, even after she had been stabbed. _Was there a fight for the briefcase?_ There may be a second briefcase as well, with what he had figured out in the first two days. The two 1:2 and 2:2 riddles seemed to correspond with the briefcases, one of them being labelled T24287. The second briefcase Hakuba had spotted would most likely be labelled the same thing as well, which would explain the message in the email, "2T24287", as in "2 T24287 briefcases". The items in the said briefcase included a disassembled sniper rifle and a copy of the photographs they had received from their previous client. _What method of infiltration did they use to obtain those pictures?_ The code in the beginning could have (although he was almost afraid to consider it) been a mistake on their part. After all, he had never heard of any programs that had allowed anyone to modify their identity via email.

_Third. _It was the way how it felt like they were constantly being monitored by at least one of Them. Initially, it had been the shadow moving from the building across the agency-there wouldn't be anything else that could send shivers down his spine that same way. Likewise, there was the way the briefcase had gone missing and that raspy voice he had heard shouting the suspicious line. _Even so,_ Conan judged. _It wouldn't have been an impossible feat for them to disguise it._

Ran's protectiveness played a role in it as well, although she had been awfully adept at keeping the reason a secret. Conan had managed to quietly show the transmitter he found to Heiji and (much to Heiji's displeasure) Hakuba. He had managed to disable the transmitter and throw it into the river on the way back. The transmitter haunted Conan-was it possible that They had already located their target? _That quickly and efficiently?_

They weren't quite sure what to do with the briefcase, since it would too risky to leave it with the hands of the police. Heiji had volunteered to hide it somewhere in Tokyo before taking his leave on the train. When the time was right, they were planning to hand it to the FBI; namely, Jodie.

The so-called 'Dr. Meruro' persona had sent the flowers and possibly the extra patients from the food poisoning. Conan had learned from the news that the patients took up two of the major hospitals—Haido Central and Beika General respectively. It reminded him all too much of a case last time-one that involved the FBI and Kir. Were they planning to smoke Alexis out? _No, it couldn't be._ Knowing them, they wouldn't use the same trick twice. 'Dr. Meruro' _had_ to be teasing them, pulling on their leash. _Of course when Ran asked, they would've given that name._ Meruro was the Japanese equivalent to Merlot. Conan wondered what Mer would've done if they had crossed paths with either himself or Heiji instead.

The nurse in the elevator was the reason why Hakuba had become flustered once Heiji mentioned about that encounter in the hospital room. Conan had almost hit himself for that-KID was literally in the elevator, teasing him earlier that day. Conan opened his eyes to see the guards beginning to settle into their positions as the Inspector fervently checked his watch every five seconds. Conan touched his cheek; he could almost feel the pinching sensation from 'Nurse KID'.

Finally, the way Alexis recovered bugged him the most. She didn't ask too much about the condition of her parents. Conan recalled earlier encounters, especially the way she seemed to memorize a script when she recited the definition of a Caesar Cipher to Heiji, or when she ordered her food without looking at the menu. It amazed but also scared him a bit on how easily she could become another person. In fact, she _almost_ seemed quite nonchalant about it. She showed no notable reaction when presented with the flowers, and when Conan had asked to see her laptop once again, she obliged. The email had been erased, and given that Alexis hadn't been conscious according to the security cameras, _They probably hacked into her account._ The wound she received itself was questionable on its own. It should've been quite difficult for the culprit to stab someone by their side, even managing to get the knife in quite deep. _Things like that takes time._ Did Alexis get distracted by something, or was it intentional?

_What does she know? _Conan came to one (pretty obvious) conclusion: she was hiding something. The Seven Children, the now-missing email, the position of the stab wound and the suspicious activity was enough to send the little detective spiraling into investigation mode.

**Hakuba's POV**

_July 14__th__, 8:27:58 PM_

Frankly, the British detective was glad to see that the irritating, brash Osakan was gone. There was no other reason to explain it, he just _aggravated_ him. It was a breath of fresh air to hear that he had taken the train back to Osaka for the week.

Once again, he had been called back to the line of duty. The day after his encounter with KID in the hospital, a heist note had appeared at the door of Jirokichi Suzuki.

"_Days will quickly steep themselves in night, and nights will quickly dream away the time. The MAGMA will turn twice and once again, under the cover of the blue moonlight, I will take my leave along with the Sapphire Night._

_Kaito KID"_

Fortunately, it called for the perfect occasion to bring Conan along, upon learning that the little detective had connections with Shinichi Kudo, the teenage detective who had crossed paths with KID in the clock tower heist. Unfortunately, however, Conan had told him that Kudo was currently unavailable at the moment.

He strolled around the 21st floor, double-checking the security. Hakuba took a look at the nearby security camera, which had been rigged with sleeping gas. _Hmph,_ he thought. _Not twice._ After all, it hadn't worked last time at the Bronze Statue heist. On top of that, the thief had the nerve to steal the gas mask in the struggle and put on a disguise of himself once he came out. Grudgingly, Hakuba inspected the security camera anyway. To his surprise, a piece of paper fluttered down. It the same faint scent of wild pansies from last time. _Honestly,_ the Brit thought. _What is with all the Shakespeare references?_ Hakuba picked it up. _"K-upid is a knavish lad, Thus to make poor females mad."_ He read. "Honestly, could you get any cheesier?" Hakuba said out loud. Yes, KID had many female fans, but so what? Almost as if KID wanted to prove his point, Hakuba overheard Sonoko Suzuki, the heiress in the next room where the jewel was held. "Ahhh, Kid-sama ! I can't wait! Even though Uncle Jirokichi's got this place surrounded, I just want to see him so badly!"

To make matters worse, some of the smoke started to leak out from the security camera. Hakuba cleared out of the hallway, in hopes of returning when the smoke died down. He could almost hear KID snickering. "Ugh," Hakuba said, annoyed.

To keep his mind off that hallway debacle, Hakuba thought about Alex. Ever since her discharge from her hospital, she had seemed almost determined to help out with the KID heist. He wondered how she was doing at her post.

_As to KID's riddle,_ he thought, cheering himself up. _It was a piece of cake. _The child had been keen to figure out the meaning of 'MAGMA'. One thought lingered at the back of his mind. _I've seen this little boy in the news quite a bit though, and especially around 'Sleeping Kogorou' cases…_

**Conan/Shinichi's POV**

The heiress had been relentless in her plan to capture KID's attention. Conan had come down from the building to see the crowd, and saw Sonoko still squealing over the aforementioned thief.

"Sonoko, are you sure it's alright standing here, right outside the building? I heard an inspector and his police force, your Uncle Jirokichi and his guards are in there, not to mention a detective called Hakuba Saguru-san…" Ran mused.

"Then what's the point of calling _me_ out here, too? I could be drinking _beer_ at the office right now!" Kogorou complained.

"_You already drink enough anyway…"_ Conan thought, chuckling to himself.

"They called you out here because you're the Great Sleeping Mouri You could be of some help to them tonight." Masumi Sera said in attempts to cheer him up. Apparently, she had decided to tag along for another 'Great Lesson with Mouri-Sensei'.

"That's right, and it's nice to bring the kids out!" Dr. Agasa said, referring to Ayumi, Genta, Mitsuhiko and Ai.

The kids continued idolizing Kaito KID, while Ai stayed quiet as usual. She crossed her arms and looked out in the direction of the tower.

Conan remembered tip-toeing earlier in the day, trying to get a decent view of the table. It was hectic, a dozen other officers were crowded around it, not to mention an Inspector Nakamori and Jirokichi Suzuki himself. Miraculously, Hakuba had managed to convince ('_or more like drag along'_, he thought) him to come along to the police meeting upon learning that he knew Shinichi Kudo.

_Now,_ Conan thought. _All we have to do is wait._

Suddenly, he heard the same raspy voice coming from his right in the crowd. Conan's heartbeat quickened as he darted his head to the direction of the voice. _It can't be Them-_

**Black Org. POV**

The figure smiled maliciously. "Mission accomplished."

Static could be heard from the other end of the conversation. "Well done. Initiate stage two."

In their hand was a black briefcase, full of more files: member profiles, codes, and a single plastic bomb. _Tick, tick, tick…_The figure had to keep themselves from smiling too much whilst being hidden in the crowd.

* * *

_Author's Notes:_

_The prologue was sort of a way I would describe how KID steals his targets (and a few hearts, especially if you're Sonoko :P) See if you can figure out the riddle! As a reward, I'll post up a concept excerpt of a short story I've been thinking of for a while! Excuse the '3' earlier in the chapter, I had been really meaning to put in a proper heart symbol, but unfortunately, ffn wouldn't allow it. So yes, in a way, the '3' was intentional._

_Now, for your thoughts! :)_

_-What do you think the Black Organization is plotting with a jewel called Pandora and making everyone a target?_

_-How do you think I did, especially with Hakuba's POV? It's actually fun/challenging writing for him though, since I'm used to Conan/Heiji the most_

_-Which side is Alexis on?_

_-Any final speculations/questions? Feel free :D_

_See you all next chapter!_


	7. Blood Moon

**_WARNING: _Alright, so this is only the first portion of Chapter 7, since I was trying something out with the symbols. If you don't want to spoil the chapter, I'd advise you to not read past the Pre-Chapter Notes. Thanks, and see you all sometime next week!**

* * *

_Pre-Chapter Notes (Riddle Deduction, Conan/Author's POV):_

Alright, so let's have a breakdown of KID's riddle, and see how Conan solved it!

-"_Days will quickly steep themselves in night, and nights will quickly dream away the time." _

This is just a Shakespeare reference, which would've meant his next heist would take place in four nights. Namely, July 14th, as the timeline in the story would suggest.

_-"The MAGMA…"_

Conan caught the fact that only the word "MAGMA" was the only thing capitalized. Since that was the only word out of place, there must've been a trick-word scrambling. After a few tries, he got "GAMMA", the third letter of the Greek alphabet. The all-capitalized word "GAMMA" became a clue as well, since there are two gammas: one uppercase (**Γ**), and one lowercase (**γ**). With that hint, Conan came to the conclusion of **Γ**.

_-"…will turn twice and once again…"_

Since Conan now knows that it's the uppercase gamma, it's only a matter of rotation. To turn it twice would mean 180°, and since KID is known for leaving his date, time, and place for heists, Conan assumed it would be time, since the latter was stated earlier/already obvious. The _"and once again"_ part of the line was intentionally designed to throw the police off, making them think something along the lines of "2+1=3". However, if you rotate **Γ **_"twice and once again"_, which makes it 270°, it wouldn't be something readable on the clock face. Therefore _"and once again"_ should be part of the second line. When that clock thought came into Conan's mind, he remembered that there were two ways a rotation could go: clockwise and/or counter-clockwise. This further reinforced his hunch about the _"GAMMA"_ being time, and if it was rotated 180° in any way, it would still result in the same thing: the clock hands facing 9 o'clock.

_-"…under the cover of the blue moonlight, I will take my leave along with the Sapphire Night."_

…Hence the name of the previous chapter's title, "Blue Moon". KID saw use to the two meanings of it-one literal, one metaphorical. A blue moon is the second full moon in a solar calendar month. Usually, there is only one full moon per month. Apparently, in the story, July 14th happens to be the second of the full moons (incidentally, my logic most likely has holes in it :P), which makes Conan completely sure of the date of the heist. Conan's final thought: The phrase "Once in a blue moon" means a rare event. Maybe this heist has some sort of special meaning to KID?

_Apologies for the super-long (and possibly tedious) deduction by Conan, and on with the story!_

* * *

Prologue:

_*"Ogni talento matta" –Italian Proverb_

**Chapter 7: Blood Moon (Conan/Shinichi's POV)**

_Now,_ Conan thought. _All we have to do is wait._

Suddenly, he heard the same raspy voice coming from his right in the crowd. Conan's heartbeat quickened as he darted his head to the direction of the voice. _It can't be Them-_

A recognizable _"Ladies and gentlemen~!" _cry rang out to interrupt Conan's train of thought, and in a puff of smoke, Kaito KID emerged. He appeared to be suspended by invisible ropes of some sort in front of twenty-first floor. KID tipped his hat and gave a small bow to the immense crowd below.

Cheers erupted and the occasional "Oh my God he's floating in midair!" comment was heard. _Baka,_ Conan thought, drawing out the word. _Even KID himself can't defy the laws of gravity._ Helicopters hovered closer, and news announcers shouted in hopes of having their voices heard by the viewers at home over the cheers. "And now, on with the show!" KID lilted.

The Shounen-Tantei went crazy over KID's first trick, and Haibara sidled up to Conan, her stoic expression remaining. She crossed her arms. "So, what is the modern-day Holmes thinking?"

An irregular flash of green and red caught the corner of his eye. Just as soon as it appeared, though, it vanished. Conan inched closer to Haibara. "Not thinking- feeling. And I've got a hunch," He mumbled. "That we may be in danger soon."

* * *

_Post Chapter Notes:_

_About this chapter-it's only a portion of it. unfortunately, Day is currently experiencing a loss for words for what will happen in this chapter (HAHAHA, I'm speaking in third-person, like a certain "best friend"...)_

_*Translation: "Every talented man is a madman"_


End file.
